On the bathroom floor, a dazed and confused Alice wakes up with blood on her hands. Alarmed by the blood she gets up and rushes to the sink and turns on the faucet with no water coming out. Frustrated and frightened she begins moving away from the sink until the reflection of the bathroom mirror grasps her attention. Alice a beautiful, stunning girl with long jet-black hair that reaches just past her shoulders. Her eyes are a stunning and captivating emerald green that will grab anyone's attention in an instant. Something about her appearance is throwing Alice off. Has she always looked like this? Before she can examine her face any longer something else catches her attention.

  Alice is wearing the wedding dress of her dreams. So elegant and majestic in fact, this dress is better than the one in her dreams. Being so lost at the sight of her in the dress she forgets about her blood-soaked hands dripping onto the floor. Alice takes a few minutes admiring herself in this extravagant dress. She begins to feel a sensation she has rarely felt in her life, a sensation of happiness. A smile almost forms until something calls out to Alice, something sinister. 

   Leaving the bathroom Alice slowly walks through the hallway that leads into the living room. The hallway walls filled with numerous cracks, holes, and roaches slipping in and out of them. Alice enters the living room to see a familiar sight. Beer cans on the floor, a static tv playing in the background, pictures on the ground with broken frames, and peeling paint on the walls. But it was the trail of blood leading into the kitchen that caught Alice’s attention. 

   Cautiously walking into the kitchen Alice sees a gruesome sight. A man lying motionless on the floor with a pool of blood under him. His face was mauled beyond recognition; his neck slit wide open with multiple stab wounds all over his body. The corpse is still fresh, this couldn't happen any longer than a couple of hours ago. The knife that ended this man’s life is still lodged in his chest directly piercing his heart. The knife itself has strange symbols and seems to be giving off sounds of whispering calling to Alice however she doesn’t seem to take notice right away. The whispers go deaf in her ears as she is more focused on the body in front of her. 

   Alice stares at the body completely with a blank face for what seems like hours. The kitchen itself looks straight out of a horror movie with broken glass mostly everywhere. Bloody handprints on the kitchen sink and window, and what seems to be a dislodged eyeball near the kitchen counter. All of this carnage and Alice is completely unphased. Alice seems to be once again lost. Maybe she believes she's in a dream. After all, who or what can cause this?

 The whispering of the knife can no longer be ignored. It starts to call Alice by her name louder and louder. She turns her head now focused on the knife. Her blank face slowly turns into one of concern and anxiousness as she carefully approaches the knife. Moving her hand closer to the knife the whispers are getting louder. Alice finally gets a grip on the knife and tries to pull it out. The whispers turn into loud voices screaming at Alice. Alice is trying her hardest to get the knife out of the chest but it doesn't budge. The screams are getting louder and begin to overwhelm Alice. Her look of concern now turns into a look of fear. It seems the screams can not be blocked out. She let go of the knife to cover her ears from the screams however they're only getting louder. Now terrified Alice shuts her eyes but to no avail, the screams are still there. The sounds of the screams are unknown to Alice and become too much for her. She can't take anymore and within an instant, her eyes open wide and begin to glow. She lets out a yell and grabs the knife and yanks it out of the corpse. The screams are now gone. 

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   Alice now breathing heavily with the knife grasped tightly in her hand begins to calm down, her eyes no longer glowing. She begins staring at the knife and examines the strange markings carved into the blade. The blood that was on the knife gets absorbed into it. Alice then feels a dark, cold presence behind her. Something that she’s never felt before but can somehow recognize and find comfort in.

   She turns to see a tall shadowy figure with luminescent green eyes. Staring into this figure was staring into a dark abyss. Alice’s heart was racing while staring at the shadow, breathing heavily the more she stared at it. Alice was soon in a trance dropping the knife. For her looking at this figure was like looking into complete nothingness while at the same time everything. Her pupils began dilating nearly taking over her entire eye. But then the shadow spoke in a calm, soothing whispering tone.

“Remain calm and stare into my eyes.”

   Alice listened and slowly moved her eyes to match the shadow's eyes. Her eyes were lost but she managed to reach the shadow’s eyes. Alice’s pupils were soon constricting back to normal size breaking her out of the trance. Even with the bright luminescent eyes of the shadow staring directly into her eyes, Alice remained calm and out of the trance she was in.

   “Good, you managed to come back. Not that many people can stare into us and break out.” The shadow spoke once more in a calm and soothing whispering tone to Alice.

   Alice completely stunned and speechless stares into the shadow unable to utter a single word. Surely she's dreaming, this is just all in her head right? 

   “No.“ The shadow muttered. "This isn't a dream nor in your head."

  Alice's eyes widen again and slowly back up. 

 "How did- what are you?" A frightened Alice asks.

  The shadow has no distinguishable features aside from its luminescent eyes and whispering tone, however, Alice can feel a smile coming from it. 

   Alice’s heart speeds up a bit but then calms herself finding an odd sense of familiarity from the shadow. She knew the answer the second she felt the shadow’s cold dark presence behind her, however, she had to be sure. She looks down trying to comprehend if any of this is real. The wedding dress she’s wearing, the mutilated man in the kitchen, her blood-soaked hands, the knife that was calling to her, and of course the shadow standing in front of her. She wants to close her eyes and open them to be certain that this is all a strange dream or hallucination but for some peculiar reason, she wants all of this to be real.

     “So, what do I call you?” Alice asks while still looking down at the floor.

     The shadow moves its head down to look at the knife then at Alice’s bloody hands, and finally behind Alice at the mutilated man.

     “Call me Malice.”